Portfolio Insights:“Barnard College (the “College”) is a not-for-profit independent liberal arts college for women. The College is exempt from federal income taxes under the provisions of Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3).

The College invests in various investment securities. Investment securities are exposed to various risks, such as interest rate, market, and credit risks. Due to the level of risk associated with certain investment securities, it is at least reasonably possible that changes in the values of investment securities will occur in the near term and that such changes could materially affect the amounts reported in the statement of financial position.” (Source)

1) Barnard College’s endowment cashed in at $174 million as of Aug. 31, up from $163 million as of Dec. 31, 2008, Barnard President Debora Spar said in a recent interview.

The endowment had previously hit the $200 million mark but was buffeted by the economic crisis down to $163 million last December. The rebound to $174 million places Barnard mid-pack among peer institutions in terms of recession fallout. (As of June 30—the benchmark by which other institutions release their numbers—Barnard’s endowment was valued at $164.7 million.) “If you compare year to year, we’re down 18 percent,” Spar said. (Source)

2) Jun 16, 2011 – Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, added Debora L. Spar, president of the women-only liberal arts school Barnard College, to its board at a meeting today in London. Spar, who turned 48 today, will sit on the audit, risk, compensation and corporate governance and nominating committees, New York-based Goldman Sachs said in a statement. She joined New York’s Barnard College in July 2008 after 17 years on the faculty of Harvard Business School. Goldman Sachs, which was the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history before the 2008 financial collapse, has been a target of regulatory and political investigations since then. (Source)

3) Barnard College, one of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges, located in New York City, is seeking an individual with exceptional financial, strategic, operational, and interpersonal capabilities to join the College’s senior leadership team as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Reporting directly to the President, the COO provides direct and strategic leadership in the areas of Finance, Campus Services, Information Technology, Human Resources and the Office of the General Counsel. The COO serves as an integral member of the President’s Council, and partners with the President in determining policy, setting strategic goals, and addressing the full range of issues that arise, from daily management to long range financial concerns. (Source)

4) Barnard College has issued a statement of commitment to conserving energy, decreasing consumption, and reducing its carbon footprint. The Sustainable Practices Committee works to make the college more sustainable. Energy Star products are purchased whenever possible, and napkins used on campus are made from 100 percent recycled materials. (Source)

5) Dec 11, 2014 – Barnard College, the women’s college affiliated with Columbia University, is considering a policy that would clarify the school’s position on admitting transgender students.

“At Barnard, we have no formal policy addressing transgender applicants because, until recently, we hadn’t needed one,” wrote president Debora Spar to students and alumnae in an email outlining the deliberative process.

“Federal law permits us to discriminate in admissions on the basis of sex, and we do. We do not accept men for admission,” she wrote. “[T]he time has come for us to examine how we, as a women’s college, define ‘women.'” (Source)

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